Hoping to End a Dubious Streak

One of the most famous and popular American plays, it turns out, is also one of the most slighted in Broadway history.

Tennessee Williams’s “The Glass Menagerie,” a staple of school reading lists for its poetic portrait of a domineering mother and her fearful children, has been produced seven times on Broadway, from 1945 to this season — more than any other American classic except the playwright’s “A Streetcar Named Desire.” Yet to the surprise of many admirers of “Menagerie,” the Broadway productions have never received a nomination for a Tony Award, the theater industry’s highest honor.

That unparalleled shutout may end on Tuesday when the 2014 Tony nominations are announced. The recent critically acclaimed production is a good bet in the category for the best play revival, and Cherry Jones is likely to achieve what acting legends like Julie Harris and Jessica Tandy could not: a nomination for playing the Southern belle mother, Amanda, one of the great characters in theater.

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From left, Zachary Quinto, Cherry Jones and Brian J. Smith in the most recent "The Glass Menagerie."CreditSara Krulwich/The New York Times

“It’s an honor that Jessica and many others wanted, but kept passing them by like no other show I can remember,” said Elizabeth I. McCann, who produced the 1983 Broadway revival starring Tandy.

“Then again, my memories of our production was that it was a nightmare,” she added. “ ‘The Glass Menagerie’ has had singularly bad luck on Broadway.”

Anxiety attacks, illnesses, heartbreak: The little-known history of “The Glass Menagerie” on Broadway was grim for performers like Maureen Stapleton (Amanda in the 1965 and 1975 revivals) and producers who lost money on the play — at least until the last, profitable revival. For others, like Piper Laurie, who played the disabled daughter Laura in 1965, and Bruce Davison, who played the headstrong son Tom in 1983, “The Glass Menagerie” changed their lives for the better, they said in interviews — Tony or no Tony.

“I was utterly addicted to amphetamines until that production gave me the courage to stop,” said Ms. Laurie, who, at 82, is the oldest surviving member of the 1965 “Menagerie” revival. “But Maureen Stapleton had a harder time — we were the first Broadway revival of ‘Glass Menagerie,’ and Maureen was haunted by having seen the original one.”

That Broadway run, in 1945, opened to rapturous reviews — “some of the finest acting to be seen in many a day,” The New York Times said — and brought Williams wider prominence. But the play had unlucky timing, opening two years before the Tonys were created. And the production was a triumph-and-tribulations tale for its star, Laurette Taylor: She received raves for her comeback performance after a long struggle with alcoholism, yet she was still drunk on some performance nights. She died shortly after the play closed, at 62.

When the 1965 revival was being planned, Stapleton had already won a supporting Tony for one Williams play, “The Rose Tattoo,” and starred in another on Broadway, “Orpheus Descending.” But she could not get Taylor’s voice out of her head, Ms. Laurie said. The reviews for the revival were mixed, with several critics, too, dwelling on Taylor and the original.

“Maureen was scared all the time — we’d sit on stage, before the curtain went up, holding hands and belching out of nervousness,” said Ms. Laurie, a three-time Oscar nominee for films like “Carrie.” “But Tennessee, at least, helped me with my courage. He told me it was the first time he’d seen Laura played as a normal, real person with a sense of humor. A lot of critics didn’t like that, though — and no Tonys.”

Ms. Stapleton decided to try again as Amanda, starring in the next Broadway revival in 1975, and earned better reviews. The production as a whole went smoothly; Williams was apparently so pleased that he brought his sister, Rose — the inspiration for Laura — to a Sunday matinee, recalled Paul Libin, one of the producers. (Williams died in 1983; Rose died in 1996.)

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Jessica Lange and Christian Slater in the 2005 Broadway revival of "The Glass Menagerie."CreditSara Krulwich/The New York Times

“As good as the play was, I got the sense that some critics — and maybe some Tony nominators — were tired of seeing ‘The Glass Menagerie’ again, tired of a play that had been read and produced regionally so many times,” Mr. Libin said.

Perhaps the stormiest “Menagerie” came in 1983. Its biggest star, Tandy — who played Blanche DuBois in the original “Streetcar” on Broadway — was ill with angina and struggling with her lines, according to her co-star Mr. Davison. They and other actors were also clashing with the director, John Dexter, who could be charming one moment and belittling the next, according to the producer Ms. McCann. Mr. Davison was preoccupied with his dying mother.

“It was Hume Cronyn, Jessie’s husband, who saved me by telling me that I just had to find the light on stage and say the words — simple as that,” Mr. Davison said. “It made me a better actor, to put emotions aside and speak the language.”

As for the lack of Tony nominations, he said, “we all felt we were struggling.” He added, “Jessie got a good review from Frank Rich in The Times, then Walter Kerr handed her her head. She felt Kerr was right.”

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Jessica Lange as Amanda Wingfield in the 2005 Broadway revival of "The Glass Menagerie."CreditSara Krulwich/The New York Times

Like Tandy, another leading stage actress, Julie Harris, had longed to play Amanda on Broadway, and she got her chance in the Roundabout Theater Company revival in 1994. But that production, which was the Broadway debut of Calista Flockhart (pre-Ally McBeal) as Laura, also received mixed reviews. Todd Haimes, the artistic director of Roundabout, said that the nuanced, slightly eccentric Harris — then a five-time Tony winner — seemed like a natural to play Amanda, but it didn’t turn out that way.

“It may be heresy to say this about Julie, because she’s one of the greats, but I don’t think it was quite her role,” Mr. Haimes said. “I just didn’t feel she completely nailed it. But maybe a lot of us hold actors in ‘Menagerie’ to unfairly high standards because the play is so revered.”

The reviews were worse for the 2005 revival, which starred Jessica Lange and, as Tom, Christian Slater, who took over the role after producers fired Dallas Roberts just days before performances began. While it ran for four and a half months and grossed a modest $4.6 million (or $5.5 million, adjusted for inflation), this season’s revival ran nearly six months and grossed $14.1 million.

The latest revival, which closed in February, was a risky new interpretation (annoying to some theatergoers) that wove mimed movement into scenes to give them a dreamlike quality, and replaced the typically naturalistic cramped apartment set with hexagon-shaped platforms that seemed to float on a pool of dark liquid. And it was the first time since the 1945 original that “Menagerie” was an all-around hit on Broadway.

“This is a play that’s often performed around the world, and may not have been fresh or sexy enough for Tony nominators before,” said Virginia Craighill, a Williams scholar at the University of the South, in Sewanee, Tenn., where Williams left his estate. “But the last revival made the play feel new.”